Looking to the future of square dancing
Meanwhile, back at the Square Dance Land Ranch…
If the rallying cry is to take back the SD activity from those that would over-analyze it, what would you do?
If you were given magical powers to overhaul things in Square Dance Land, how would you change it to make it more accessible and approachable?
You want more dancers for your club… where do you get them? How do you compete with alternative forms of entertainment that are available today that weren’t around 20, 30, 40, 50 years ago?
What would you do to keep them? Better, what would you do to prevent them from leaving?
There is, admittedly, a finite supply of dancers. One thing that gets overlooked is the short supply of callers. What would you do to increase the number of callers? What would you do to ensure that these new dance leaders do things without “over-analyzing” them and making the dance more complicated than it needs to be? (For the new dancer, that is.)
Then, for those dancers and callers that want the puzzle to be harder, how do you treat them? In this case, treat = reward.
Hi Stephen,
What do you mean by “over-analyze” Square Dance?
I think what I would do with my magical powers is to make sure dancers can dance outside of class sooner. Perhaps shorten Basic and maybe even rename it so that it isn’t impiled that it is the foundation for what comes later. I would probably move calls that are not often used, like Thars and Dive thru to Mainstream, and cut and mix what is left so that dancers can end up in Waves and do Circulates on the first new program. The rest of the calls would form a new second program. It would be ideal if the first program can be taught in one semester or less for the quick folks.
Our club would because of this also be able to start up beginner classes more often and still be in sync with other clubs in our country. At least in Sweden Basic starts during fall.
By over-analyze, I think that too many callers (and a fair number of dancers) worry way too much about the nuances of the calls. We could argue about handholds all night, or we could skip it and move on to something else.
I think that we could easily come up with a shorter list of calls that would let people crawl before they walk before they run.
Sure, they’ll move up the program ladder, but everyone should do it at a pace that is comfortable to them, not some arbitrary point that has become overblown.
Stephen
Ok. Though I believe the calls’ nuances are important. Variety and creative calling is key to making it fun for me when I dance. For that dancers and callers have to properly understand the calls. I will agree though that there are things that need more attention.
I also think that making a list like that would be fairly easy. Do you agree that it would help? I like the ABC-concept but I think it should be built into the programs. Or at least some of the benefits that comes from it.
People assuming that it is better to dance a larger program is also something I would address with my magic powers. I did run myself, but not faster than I could handle. Dancers should know the right reasons for moving to a larger program and not do it before they are ready. I really like how Callerlab addresses this in their document “Dance time”. It’s probably about getting a global attitude change. Link for the curious: http://callerlab.org/Default.aspx?tabid=610&id=130
/Lennart
I never meant to imply that the nuances weren’t important. They are.
What I’m saying is that we need to worry about many of them later in the dance experience, not when they first learn any specific call.
Too many, I think, want lessons to include every aspect of every call at the outset. The result is a dance experience that is less than ideal.
For me, I couldn’t get enough square dancing when I started. (Don’t tell anyone, but I started learning Advanced before I’d finished Plus. Then again, I didn’t know any better.) However, I’m the exception, not the rule.
Thanks for sharing the link.
~S~
That’s a tough one though. You normally do want to keep it simple but at the same time you want to avoid dancers having to relearn calls when it gets more complicated. E.g some dancers think Slide Thru is the same thing as Star Thru without hands.
I think a teacher has to show why the definition matters but that doesn’t mean the dancing of the call has to get complicated from the start. After showing how the call works from a few select formations and positions, dance it from 0-arrangement. Some teachers might also feel a pressure that dancers have to be ready for the next program after their class.
A different thought on the matter. Doing a call on a dance in a way that is new to you can make it even more fun, especially if you succeed.
I’ve been thinking that clubs should offer advanced classes for the different programs so that the next step after Basic would be “Basic – extended applications” and not Mainstream. Good opportunity to explore the calls and take some pressure of the teachers so they don’t have to feel like dancers have to be ready for Mainstream after Basic, and so on. No idea how many clubs already do this but we sure don’t.
Yea, me and my girlfriend did the same thing with Mainstream and Plus before Basic was finished. Plus was by accident though, it really wasn’t our fault.
Yup, the rule should be to wait before going to a bigger program and enjoy yourself for a while.
/Lennart
Uhm.. to clarify. It was the Basic course that wasn’t finished. We had learned all the calls on our own before moving on. Same thing with Mainstream before we dabbled in Plus.
In case anyone reads this and thinks that rushing is a good idea… We put in a LOT of practice and dance time to make sure we were good dancers. We quizzed each other on the definitions, played around with checkers and danced with phantoms in the kitchen, etc and danced with the club at least 2 times per week.
When we think of lists you immediately think of Everybody! Until you want to dance with others, it makes no difference how you teach the calls. I asked dancers if they only had 10 calls what would they be! A few were embarrassed that they picked Plus Calls, In fact 5 of the 10 most liked were plus calls. I then went about picking the calls I needed to get the Plus calls into Singing Calls. Those are now my basics and I teach them the first 3 tips when I have new people! Make up your own list, only you know what those moves are!
Doesn’t take an act of congress, or anyone else agreeing to it! And, it probably won’t be something everyone wants. Just for fun when asked to do a Plus Dance I only used the moves I needed to get them between Plus Moves. They had no idea how few moves I used all night, but I used all 28 Plus moves in Singing Calls.
If you have to many new people you can’t do it in three tips! I’ve had to push back what I can teach in 3 tips with a few new faces to 2 nights with mostly new faces. I’ll leave the people who want the fancy stuff to you guys I’d rather twinkle a new dancers toes than a good dancers head!
Advanced Dancers they can come down and dance at the lower levels any time they want. Anybody can come down and dance with us whenever they want. But, somehow they don’t seem to like the idea that knowing a lot of movements doesn’t make you a better dancer, and there is no set of moves that with an imagination aren’t as challenging to dance! Especially if you get stuck in the rut of Cued Dancing!